No matter where you are in your career, negotiating your salary is hard. As a result, many people don’t negotiate at all. In fact, almost half of American workers reported to PayScale that they have never asked for a raise in their current roles. But don’t let these numbers get you down. Instead, try any of these actionable strategies to negotiate a higher salary and get paid what you deserve.

Know What You Should Be Paid Before You Interview

One of the easiest things you can do for yourself is know how much you’re worth before your interviewer has a chance to decide. Use PayScale to get a free salary report, and use that number to negotiate your salary when the time comes. PayScale salary data is updated every single day, so you can feel confident that the salary you get is exactly what you deserve. If the employer isn’t willing to meet you at a number that’s within your PayScale salary range, then you won’t be paid at current market rate and should consider negotiating other components of your compensation, like extra PTO.

Don’t Rush Into Saying Yes After a Job Offer

When you’re interviewing for a new job, and you finally get that offer letter or telephone call, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement and uncertainty of locking down a new job. But even if it’s the job of your dreams, do not rush into saying yes. You owe yourself at least 24 hours to seriously evaluate not only if you really want the job, but if you accept the salary they offered. By offering you a job on the phone, employers put you on the spot. It’s up to you to give yourself some space, and decide if you need to ask for a higher salary (and you should!).

Remember That You Can Negotiate More Than a Yearly Salary

People often think that when an employer can’t give you what you want in terms of salary, the conversation is over. In reality, it’s not that cut and dried. Don’t forget that you can try to negotiate things like extra paid time off, better benefits and continuing education. It’s up to you to decide if it’s going to be worth it in the long run to take extra benefits in lieu of a higher salary, but it is another part of your compensation that can add up.

Tell Us What You Think!

What strategies have you used to negotiate a higher salary? We want to hear from you! Comment below or join the discussion on Twitter!

No matter where you are in your career, negotiating your salary is hard. As a result, many people don’t negotiate at all. In fact, almost half of American workers reported to PayScale that they have never asked for a raise in their current roles. But don’t let these numbers get you down. Instead, try any of these actionable strategies to negotiate a higher salary and get paid what you deserve.

Know What You Should Be Paid Before You Interview

One of the easiest things you can do for yourself is know how much you’re worth before your interviewer has a chance to decide. Use PayScale to get a free salary report, and use that number to negotiate your salary when the time comes. PayScale salary data is updated every single day, so you can feel confident that the salary you get is exactly what you deserve. If the employer isn’t willing to meet you at a number that’s within your PayScale salary range, then you won’t be paid at current market rate and should consider negotiating other components of your compensation, like extra PTO.

Don’t Rush Into Saying Yes After a Job Offer

When you’re interviewing for a new job, and you finally get that offer letter or telephone call, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement and uncertainty of locking down a new job. But even if it’s the job of your dreams, do not rush into saying yes. You owe yourself at least 24 hours to seriously evaluate not only if you really want the job, but if you accept the salary they offered. By offering you a job on the phone, employers put you on the spot. It’s up to you to give yourself some space, and decide if you need to ask for a higher salary (and you should!).

Remember That You Can Negotiate More Than a Yearly Salary

People often think that when an employer can’t give you what you want in terms of salary, the conversation is over. In reality, it’s not that cut and dried. Don’t forget that you can try to negotiate things like extra paid time off, better benefits and continuing education. It’s up to you to decide if it’s going to be worth it in the long run to take extra benefits in lieu of a higher salary, but it is another part of your compensation that can add up.

Tell Us What You Think!

What strategies have you used to negotiate a higher salary? We want to hear from you! Comment below or join the discussion on Twitter!

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/3-strategies-everyone-can-use-to-negotiate-a-higher-salary/feed0Obama Administration: 100 Companies Have Taken the Equal Pay Pledgehttp://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/obama-administration-100-companies-have-taken-equal-pay-pledge
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/obama-administration-100-companies-have-taken-equal-pay-pledge#respondFri, 09 Dec 2016 20:38:23 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34261In June, the White House announced the Equal Pay Pledge during the United State of Women Summit. This week, President Obama said that 44 new companies have recently signed the pledge, promising to pay men and women equally for equal work. The total number of signatories is now 100 companies, and includes employers like Amazon, AT&T, eBay, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Yahoo, and Zillow Group.

Equal Pay has been an Administration priority since President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law as his first piece of legislation. Policies that ensure fair pay for all Americans and that help businesses to attract the strongest talent can not only narrow the pay gap, but also boost productivity and benefit our economy.

What the Equal Pay Pledge Includes

Embed equal pay efforts in other equity initiatives across the company;

Promote other best pay practices.

A few of the companies who signed the pledge in the past few months have noted that they already pay men and women equally, including Facebook and Amazon. However, equal pay for equal work doesn’t necessarily address one of the underlying reasons for the gender pay gap: the opportunity gap. For instance, at Facebook, only 32 percent of the company’s 12,000 workers are female, as are only 24 percent of Amazon’s managers.

That’s not to call out specific employers for censure — the tech industry as a whole has a problem with gender equity and opportunity. And tech is not an outlier: across industries, women are more likely to be individual contributors and less likely to be managers, directors, and executives.

PayScale’s report, Inside the Gender Pay Gap, shows that 60.6 percent of working women aged 60 to 65 are individual contributors, compared to 44.5 percent of men. Only 3.3 percent of women in the same age group are executives, compared to 8.7 percent of men.

Why Initiatives Like the Equal Pay Pledge Matter

Initiatives like these are voluntary, and obviously carry no penalties for lack of enforcement. Further, you’ll always hear from a few critics who claim that the gender pay gap is a fiction, a misreading of data. (It’s not.) But calling attention to the fact that women are less likely to be executives than men is just as important as noting that they still earn less for doing the same work. In asking companies to commit to reviewing their hiring and promotion practices, the pledge reminds us that equal pay means equal opportunity.

One of the greatest obstacles to true pay equity and opportunity equity is unconscious bias. By committing to the Equal Pay Pledge, companies are promising to shine a light on their own practices. In effect, they’re pledging to pay attention and to notice when women are paid less or are underrepresented in upper management. And, that’s an important step toward real pay equity.

Tell Us What You Think

Does your employer prioritize equal pay? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

]]>In June, the White House announced the Equal Pay Pledge during the United State of Women Summit. This week, President Obama said that 44 new companies have recently signed the pledge, promising to pay men and women equally for equal work. The total number of signatories is now 100 companies, and includes employers like Amazon, AT&T, eBay, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Yahoo, and Zillow Group.

Equal Pay has been an Administration priority since President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law as his first piece of legislation. Policies that ensure fair pay for all Americans and that help businesses to attract the strongest talent can not only narrow the pay gap, but also boost productivity and benefit our economy.

What the Equal Pay Pledge Includes

Embed equal pay efforts in other equity initiatives across the company;

Promote other best pay practices.

A few of the companies who signed the pledge in the past few months have noted that they already pay men and women equally, including Facebook and Amazon. However, equal pay for equal work doesn’t necessarily address one of the underlying reasons for the gender pay gap: the opportunity gap. For instance, at Facebook, only 32 percent of the company’s 12,000 workers are female, as are only 24 percent of Amazon’s managers.

That’s not to call out specific employers for censure — the tech industry as a whole has a problem with gender equity and opportunity. And tech is not an outlier: across industries, women are more likely to be individual contributors and less likely to be managers, directors, and executives.

PayScale’s report, Inside the Gender Pay Gap, shows that 60.6 percent of working women aged 60 to 65 are individual contributors, compared to 44.5 percent of men. Only 3.3 percent of women in the same age group are executives, compared to 8.7 percent of men.

Why Initiatives Like the Equal Pay Pledge Matter

Initiatives like these are voluntary, and obviously carry no penalties for lack of enforcement. Further, you’ll always hear from a few critics who claim that the gender pay gap is a fiction, a misreading of data. (It’s not.) But calling attention to the fact that women are less likely to be executives than men is just as important as noting that they still earn less for doing the same work. In asking companies to commit to reviewing their hiring and promotion practices, the pledge reminds us that equal pay means equal opportunity.

One of the greatest obstacles to true pay equity and opportunity equity is unconscious bias. By committing to the Equal Pay Pledge, companies are promising to shine a light on their own practices. In effect, they’re pledging to pay attention and to notice when women are paid less or are underrepresented in upper management. And, that’s an important step toward real pay equity.

Tell Us What You Think

Does your employer prioritize equal pay? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/obama-administration-100-companies-have-taken-equal-pay-pledge/feed0PayScale’s VIP Blog Roundup: A Formula for Cover Letters That Get Interviewshttp://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/payscales-vip-blog-roundup-formula-cover-letters-get-interviews
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/payscales-vip-blog-roundup-formula-cover-letters-get-interviews#respondFri, 09 Dec 2016 18:02:46 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34247There are people who love networking, or job interviews, or even negotiating salary. But the one aspect of job searching that almost everyone hates is writing cover letters.

For this reason, every few years we get a spate of articles predicting their imminent demise. It’s as good a traffic booster as you could ask for, without promising readers millions or namedropping a celebrity. The problem, of course, is that hiring managers seem permanently smitten with the cover letter. Reports of its death are almost certainly going to be greatly exaggerated.

That’s bad news for job seekers, who are stuck trying to write cover letters that engage their audience and show off their skills — without duplicating their resumes. This week’s roundup includes a formula for writing cover letters that can make the process easier and more successful; plus, a roundup of inspiring quotes from John Glenn and tips on getting to To-List Zero.

“While there are certainly examples and templates out there that you can reference, there isn’t really a specific step-by-step formula for writing a stellar cover letter,” Leavy writes. “It really comes down to who your audience is and what kind of information is important to them. It’s also about the best way of communicating that visually and verbally.”

In other words, it’s about the process — which is good news if your main issue with cover letters is getting started in the first place. If you follow the steps Leavy outlines, you’re almost certain to come out with a cover letter that works.

John Glenn once said, “I’m not interested in my legacy. I made up my word: ‘live-acy.’ I’m more interested in living.”

And live he did. John Glenn passed away today at 95 here in Columbus, Ohio. He was a true American hero, a Senator, an astronaut that inspired many throughout the world. He was the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. Years later, in 1998, he became the oldest person in space.

“Some productivity zealots are obsessed with ‘inbox zero,’ but you might also be looking to conquer ‘to-do list zero,’” Pollak writes.

Why make this your target? Well, if you’ve ever moved one item from list to list over the course of days (or weeks), you know how unchecked boxes can haunt you. What’s the point of having a to-do list if some of it never gets to-done?

Pollak’s roundup of tips is good advice for anyone who’s tired of carrying tasks forward. And there’s no better time of year to tie up loose ends.

Tell Us What You Think

What’s the best career advice you’ve read this week? We want to hear from you! Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

For this reason, every few years we get a spate of articles predicting their imminent demise. It’s as good a traffic booster as you could ask for, without promising readers millions or namedropping a celebrity. The problem, of course, is that hiring managers seem permanently smitten with the cover letter. Reports of its death are almost certainly going to be greatly exaggerated.

That’s bad news for job seekers, who are stuck trying to write cover letters that engage their audience and show off their skills — without duplicating their resumes. This week’s roundup includes a formula for writing cover letters that can make the process easier and more successful; plus, a roundup of inspiring quotes from John Glenn and tips on getting to To-List Zero.

“While there are certainly examples and templates out there that you can reference, there isn’t really a specific step-by-step formula for writing a stellar cover letter,” Leavy writes. “It really comes down to who your audience is and what kind of information is important to them. It’s also about the best way of communicating that visually and verbally.”

In other words, it’s about the process — which is good news if your main issue with cover letters is getting started in the first place. If you follow the steps Leavy outlines, you’re almost certain to come out with a cover letter that works.

John Glenn once said, “I’m not interested in my legacy. I made up my word: ‘live-acy.’ I’m more interested in living.”

And live he did. John Glenn passed away today at 95 here in Columbus, Ohio. He was a true American hero, a Senator, an astronaut that inspired many throughout the world. He was the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. Years later, in 1998, he became the oldest person in space.

“Some productivity zealots are obsessed with ‘inbox zero,’ but you might also be looking to conquer ‘to-do list zero,’” Pollak writes.

Why make this your target? Well, if you’ve ever moved one item from list to list over the course of days (or weeks), you know how unchecked boxes can haunt you. What’s the point of having a to-do list if some of it never gets to-done?

Pollak’s roundup of tips is good advice for anyone who’s tired of carrying tasks forward. And there’s no better time of year to tie up loose ends.

Tell Us What You Think

What’s the best career advice you’ve read this week? We want to hear from you! Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/payscales-vip-blog-roundup-formula-cover-letters-get-interviews/feed04 Tech Jobs to Watch in 2017http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/4-tech-jobs-watch-2017
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/4-tech-jobs-watch-2017#respondFri, 09 Dec 2016 14:00:41 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34167The technology industry is innovative, expanding — and lucrative. If you’re interested in STEM, it makes sense to pursue a job in this area. When it comes down to specifics though, things can get a little trickier. The tech job market moves with the economy, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on industry trends. Just recently, Robert Half Technology, a technology staffing agency, released a report on salary trends for technology and IT jobs in 2017. Let’s take a closer look at the four top tech jobs to watch in 2017.

According to this report, data scientists are poised to have a great year in 2017. Data scientists are responsible for mining complex data and analyzing it, often with a team of other IT professionals. They develop new systems and models based on the needs of their company and information gained through their research. In addition to related IT skills, these professionals often possess excellent communication skills, both oral and written, and they should be good at working in, and leading, teams.

Big data engineers should expect significant increases in 2017. These talented professionals work closely with other data engineers, and data scientists, to process and interpret data. They identify trends in these larger data sets, and organize and maintain them. They are also responsible for translating and building computer algorithms into code. Sometimes data engineers’ work schedules are flexible and they’re able to work from home, but many still work in a traditional office setting. They must have excellent programming skills in addition to strong communication and problem-solving abilities.

These tech professionals will continue to be in increasing demand in 2017. Network security engineers monitor and track security concerns and track overall performance. They also work hard to protect systems and servers by maintaining firewalls, web, and email security programs. Some network security positions require some travel, but many work in a single location.

Database developers often work closely with other members of a development team to find the best solutions and procedures to enhance performance. They monitor and troubleshoot systems as needed. Database developers are primarily responsible for maintaining databases and analyzing them for continual improvement. These folks have to be able to learn new technical skills quickly.

]]>The technology industry is innovative, expanding — and lucrative. If you’re interested in STEM, it makes sense to pursue a job in this area. When it comes down to specifics though, things can get a little trickier. The tech job market moves with the economy, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on industry trends. Just recently, Robert Half Technology, a technology staffing agency, released a report on salary trends for technology and IT jobs in 2017. Let’s take a closer look at the four top tech jobs to watch in 2017.

According to this report, data scientists are poised to have a great year in 2017. Data scientists are responsible for mining complex data and analyzing it, often with a team of other IT professionals. They develop new systems and models based on the needs of their company and information gained through their research. In addition to related IT skills, these professionals often possess excellent communication skills, both oral and written, and they should be good at working in, and leading, teams.

Big data engineers should expect significant increases in 2017. These talented professionals work closely with other data engineers, and data scientists, to process and interpret data. They identify trends in these larger data sets, and organize and maintain them. They are also responsible for translating and building computer algorithms into code. Sometimes data engineers’ work schedules are flexible and they’re able to work from home, but many still work in a traditional office setting. They must have excellent programming skills in addition to strong communication and problem-solving abilities.

These tech professionals will continue to be in increasing demand in 2017. Network security engineers monitor and track security concerns and track overall performance. They also work hard to protect systems and servers by maintaining firewalls, web, and email security programs. Some network security positions require some travel, but many work in a single location.

Database developers often work closely with other members of a development team to find the best solutions and procedures to enhance performance. They monitor and troubleshoot systems as needed. Database developers are primarily responsible for maintaining databases and analyzing them for continual improvement. These folks have to be able to learn new technical skills quickly.

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/4-tech-jobs-watch-2017/feed0Kellyanne Conway: Men Don’t Want Their Wives to Work in the White Househttp://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/kellyanne-conway-white-house-jobs-mothers
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/kellyanne-conway-white-house-jobs-mothers#commentsThu, 08 Dec 2016 23:03:33 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34189Kellyanne Conway is the first woman to run a successful U.S. presidential campaign, but don’t wait for her to accept a position in the White House. While speaking at the Women Rule Summit in Washington, D.C., Conway said:

Conway noted that turning down a job in the Trump administration “would be my personal choice and not a demand on me,” but also mentioned her response to male cabinet candidates who asked if she would consider a White House job.

“I do politely mention to them that the question isn’t ‘Would you take the job?’ — the male sitting across from me who’s about to take a big role in the White House — but ‘Would you want your wife to?’ And you really see their entire visage change. It’s like, oh, no, they wouldn’t want their wife to take that job.”

Conway also said:

“It’s a great time to be a woman in America. We’re products of our choices, not just our circumstances. We’re independent thinkers. And it’s just a very special time.”

Something doesn’t add up here.

Kellyanne Conway’s Contradictory Advice For Working Women

Women Can Do Anything…

On the one hand, Conway is saying that women can make choices for themselves, and not just let circumstances determine their lives and careers. Her choice not to seek a position in the White House isn’t necessarily at odds with this: there’s no reason why anyone, male or female, should feel compelled to go for a high-powered job over a chance to spend more time with their families. The problem isn’t with Conway’s personal choice — it’s with the implication she’s asking the audience to draw, when she says male cabinet picks agreed they wouldn’t want their wives to work in the White House.

…But They Probably Shouldn’t Take Jobs in the White House.

Conway says she hopes to “maybe help America’s women in terms of feeling less guilty about balancing life and career.” But by mentioning that her male colleagues would prefer their wives to have less high-powered jobs, she’s clearly endorsing one way of balancing those priorities. Worse: she’s making it seem like the opinions of a group of men are somehow more important than any career aspirations their wives might have.

Valerie Jarrett, the keynote speaker at the Women Rule Summit and a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, said that she encouraged Conway to consider a role in the White House.

“I encouraged her to give it a try,” Jarrett said. “First of all, because the experience inside the White House, working with somebody who you respect and know as well as she does — the president-elect — is unique, and I’ve had the benefit of that, and I wouldn’t have traded the last years for anything.”

In the end, it matters less which decision Conway makes, and more that women feel the choice is truly up to them.

Tell Us What You Think!

Do you think women with kids should take high-powered jobs? We want to hear from you! Comment below or join the discussion on Twitter!

]]>Kellyanne Conway is the first woman to run a successful U.S. presidential campaign, but don’t wait for her to accept a position in the White House. While speaking at the Women Rule Summit in Washington, D.C., Conway said:

Conway noted that turning down a job in the Trump administration “would be my personal choice and not a demand on me,” but also mentioned her response to male cabinet candidates who asked if she would consider a White House job.

“I do politely mention to them that the question isn’t ‘Would you take the job?’ — the male sitting across from me who’s about to take a big role in the White House — but ‘Would you want your wife to?’ And you really see their entire visage change. It’s like, oh, no, they wouldn’t want their wife to take that job.”

Conway also said:

“It’s a great time to be a woman in America. We’re products of our choices, not just our circumstances. We’re independent thinkers. And it’s just a very special time.”

Something doesn’t add up here.

Kellyanne Conway’s Contradictory Advice For Working Women

Women Can Do Anything…

On the one hand, Conway is saying that women can make choices for themselves, and not just let circumstances determine their lives and careers. Her choice not to seek a position in the White House isn’t necessarily at odds with this: there’s no reason why anyone, male or female, should feel compelled to go for a high-powered job over a chance to spend more time with their families. The problem isn’t with Conway’s personal choice — it’s with the implication she’s asking the audience to draw, when she says male cabinet picks agreed they wouldn’t want their wives to work in the White House.

…But They Probably Shouldn’t Take Jobs in the White House.

Conway says she hopes to “maybe help America’s women in terms of feeling less guilty about balancing life and career.” But by mentioning that her male colleagues would prefer their wives to have less high-powered jobs, she’s clearly endorsing one way of balancing those priorities. Worse: she’s making it seem like the opinions of a group of men are somehow more important than any career aspirations their wives might have.

Valerie Jarrett, the keynote speaker at the Women Rule Summit and a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, said that she encouraged Conway to consider a role in the White House.

“I encouraged her to give it a try,” Jarrett said. “First of all, because the experience inside the White House, working with somebody who you respect and know as well as she does — the president-elect — is unique, and I’ve had the benefit of that, and I wouldn’t have traded the last years for anything.”

In the end, it matters less which decision Conway makes, and more that women feel the choice is truly up to them.

Tell Us What You Think!

Do you think women with kids should take high-powered jobs? We want to hear from you! Comment below or join the discussion on Twitter!

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/kellyanne-conway-white-house-jobs-mothers/feed1The States Where Nurses Are Most and Least In Demandhttp://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/states-nurses-least-demand
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/states-nurses-least-demand#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 19:58:22 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34174Some professions are more regional than others. For example, you’re much more likely to work as a gaming dealer in Nevada or an automotive engineer in Michigan than in any other part of the country. On the other hand, some occupations exist in every state. For example, registered nurses are always in demand. But that doesn’t mean that every state offers equally attractive opportunities to those who work in the nursing profession.

A new report from Olivet Nazarene University, which used data from Indeed’s job listings, shows where nurses are the most and the least in demand. Let’s take a closer look at some of the findings that stand out the most.

Nurses are in high demand in most parts of New England, and in North Dakota, New Mexico, and Alaska.

According to this report, nurses are most in demand in the state of Massachusetts, where there are 22.9 nursing jobs listed per every 10,000 people. Other states in New England also have a similar level of demand, with the exception of Connecticut, which has just 14 jobs listed per every 10,000 residents. Vermont‘s rate is 19.9/10,000, New Hampshire‘s is 20.6/10,000, and Rhode Island‘s is 18.8/10,000. Other states outside of New England also find nurses in high demand: North Dakota (21 per 10,000), New Mexico (20.9 per 10,000), and Alaska (18.6 per 10,000).

The demand is especially low in parts of the Southeast, Utah, and Hawaii.

There are a few states in the Southeast where nurses are in especially low demand. In Mississippi, there are only 7.2 jobs listed for every 10,000 people. That’s the lowest of any state in the country. Louisiana isn’t far behind with a rate of 9.5, and Mississippi’s other neighbor, Alabama, comes in with a rate of 9.8. Figures are also low in Hawaii (7.4 per 10,000), and Utah (9.1 per 10,000).

High salaries often follow when nurses are in high demand, and the reverse is also true.

According to this report, high salaries are often available in the states where nurses are most in demand. For example, nurses in Massachusetts earn almost $20,000 more than the national average. On the other hand, they earn less than that average in Alabama, where nurses aren’t in high demand.

The differences have a lot to do with states’ budgets.

The availability of nursing jobs and the pay rate for nurses has everything to do with states’ budgets. In many instances, funding for nurses in locations like schools and hospitals comes from local and state budgets. According to this report, states like Utah, which historically advocate for small-government policies, don’t have the funds for jobs and facilities that other states do. Hence, they have a lower demand for nurses and often offer lower pay to boot.

The rate also varies alongside the density of health-care facilities.

Not unrelated to state budgetary differences, demand for nurses varies according to how many healthcare facilities exist per capita. The report notes that Mississippi, which ranked as having the lowest demand for nurses of any state, also has the fifth-fewest healthcare facilities per capita of any state. So, it stands to reason they would have less jobs available there when compared with other areas.

Be sure to check out the full report for more information on other states.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you work as a nurse in one of the states mentioned here? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.

]]>Some professions are more regional than others. For example, you’re much more likely to work as a gaming dealer in Nevada or an automotive engineer in Michigan than in any other part of the country. On the other hand, some occupations exist in every state. For example, registered nurses are always in demand. But that doesn’t mean that every state offers equally attractive opportunities to those who work in the nursing profession.

A new report from Olivet Nazarene University, which used data from Indeed’s job listings, shows where nurses are the most and the least in demand. Let’s take a closer look at some of the findings that stand out the most.

Nurses are in high demand in most parts of New England, and in North Dakota, New Mexico, and Alaska.

According to this report, nurses are most in demand in the state of Massachusetts, where there are 22.9 nursing jobs listed per every 10,000 people. Other states in New England also have a similar level of demand, with the exception of Connecticut, which has just 14 jobs listed per every 10,000 residents. Vermont‘s rate is 19.9/10,000, New Hampshire‘s is 20.6/10,000, and Rhode Island‘s is 18.8/10,000. Other states outside of New England also find nurses in high demand: North Dakota (21 per 10,000), New Mexico (20.9 per 10,000), and Alaska (18.6 per 10,000).

The demand is especially low in parts of the Southeast, Utah, and Hawaii.

There are a few states in the Southeast where nurses are in especially low demand. In Mississippi, there are only 7.2 jobs listed for every 10,000 people. That’s the lowest of any state in the country. Louisiana isn’t far behind with a rate of 9.5, and Mississippi’s other neighbor, Alabama, comes in with a rate of 9.8. Figures are also low in Hawaii (7.4 per 10,000), and Utah (9.1 per 10,000).

High salaries often follow when nurses are in high demand, and the reverse is also true.

According to this report, high salaries are often available in the states where nurses are most in demand. For example, nurses in Massachusetts earn almost $20,000 more than the national average. On the other hand, they earn less than that average in Alabama, where nurses aren’t in high demand.

The differences have a lot to do with states’ budgets.

The availability of nursing jobs and the pay rate for nurses has everything to do with states’ budgets. In many instances, funding for nurses in locations like schools and hospitals comes from local and state budgets. According to this report, states like Utah, which historically advocate for small-government policies, don’t have the funds for jobs and facilities that other states do. Hence, they have a lower demand for nurses and often offer lower pay to boot.

The rate also varies alongside the density of health-care facilities.

Not unrelated to state budgetary differences, demand for nurses varies according to how many healthcare facilities exist per capita. The report notes that Mississippi, which ranked as having the lowest demand for nurses of any state, also has the fifth-fewest healthcare facilities per capita of any state. So, it stands to reason they would have less jobs available there when compared with other areas.

Be sure to check out the full report for more information on other states.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you work as a nurse in one of the states mentioned here? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/states-nurses-least-demand/feed0The Good News (and the Bad News) About the Gender Pay Gaphttp://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/the-good-news-and-the-bad-news-about-the-gender-pay-gap
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/the-good-news-and-the-bad-news-about-the-gender-pay-gap#commentsThu, 08 Dec 2016 17:25:47 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34177The good news is that PayScale’s report, Inside the Gender Pay Gap, reveals the gap to be smaller in 2016 than in the previous year. PayScale surveyed more than 1.8 million employees to find the difference between median earnings for men and women. Last year, the uncontrolled gap declined to 23.7 percent, and the controlled gap declined to 2.4 percent. That means that women earn about 98 cents on the dollar, when we compare only men and women with similar jobs, experience, supervisory status, etc.

The bad news is … that’s where the good news ends.

Now, don’t get me wrong: this year’s results are certainly headed in the right direction. That said, any gender pay disparity is ultimately unacceptable. As a recruiter, I’ve had a front-row seat to the effect this inequity can have on a company’s ability to attract and retain top talent. I frequently hear it from female candidates: they’re looking to leave their current employer due to a lack of advancement opportunities — professionally, financially, or both.

They’re not wrong, they’re not alone, and the data agree.

According to PayScale’s report, 18.5 percent of women surveyed believe they have missed out on a raise, promotion, or both because of their gender. This climbs as high as 35.9 percent in women with an MBA. Only 3.5 percent of all men and 5.3 percent of male MBAs felt they had similarly been passed over. Thankfully, both men and women appear to be recognizing this as an issue more than they ever have before.

PayScale asked respondents whether gender pay disparity is an issue at their current companies, whether their companies were acting to address the disparity, and whether respondents have any plans to seek new employment within the next six months. Both male and female respondents sent a clear message in their answers: the lower the “employer action rating” with regards to addressing inequity, the more likely that the employee is planning to seek a new job in the next six months. In fact, 73.5 percent of male respondents and 70.6 percent of female respondents who say their employers are taking “no action” plan on actively seeking outside opportunities in the near future.

The opportunity gap matters.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced total pay parity within their company, with their head of HR stating, “I’m proud to share that at Facebook, men and women earn the same.” However, only about 32 percent of Facebook’s 12,000-plus global employees are female. This illustrates well why true pay equity in the workplace cannot be reached without opportunity equity. PayScale’s study shows that mid-career men are 25 percent more likely than mid-career women to be in management roles, and over 41 percent more likely in their late career.

Amazon (widely regarded as one of the most sought-after employers in the world) released their gender disparity data, revealing that only 24 percent of Amazon managers, only one out of seven corporate officers, and only three of 11 board members are female.

Tech companies can’t claim true gender equity when women are still underrepresented in leadership roles. They can’t even necessarily say that women have as much opportunity to earn those roles as men, because many companies reward behaviors that are coded as masculine.

“I wonder what could be achieved for women in workplace culture if we stopped asking women to wear their confidence ‘like a man,’” wrote Lydia Frank, PayScale’s VP of Content Strategy, at LinkedIn last year. “The truth is that we, as a society, are being lazy. It’s harder to recognize quiet confidence, so the easy thing to do is to ask everyone to show their confidence in ways that are overt, assuming those that don’t must lack it. It’s also true that we don’t actually want women to act like men in the workplace. When they do, both men and women punish them for it. We can’t have it both ways.”

Education can boost pay, but doesn’t close the gender pay gap.

The report also uncovered an interesting correlation between women’s level of education and their satisfaction with their employer. In general: the higher her level of education, the greater chance that she gives her employer a low rating on addressing workplace gender inequality; 37 percent of females with MBAs and 36.1 percent of females with PhDs being the most likely to give those low “employer action rating.”

Want to be part of the solution?

By negotiating your salary right now, you can make it easier for other women after you to negotiate their salaries as well. The worst thing you can is to sit back and wait patiently for your company to give you a raise. When it comes to women and their salaries, there is no good karma and there are no easy wins — especially when it comes to the gender pay gap.

]]>The good news is that PayScale’s report, Inside the Gender Pay Gap, reveals the gap to be smaller in 2016 than in the previous year. PayScale surveyed more than 1.8 million employees to find the difference between median earnings for men and women. Last year, the uncontrolled gap declined to 23.7 percent, and the controlled gap declined to 2.4 percent. That means that women earn about 98 cents on the dollar, when we compare only men and women with similar jobs, experience, supervisory status, etc.

The bad news is … that’s where the good news ends.

Now, don’t get me wrong: this year’s results are certainly headed in the right direction. That said, any gender pay disparity is ultimately unacceptable. As a recruiter, I’ve had a front-row seat to the effect this inequity can have on a company’s ability to attract and retain top talent. I frequently hear it from female candidates: they’re looking to leave their current employer due to a lack of advancement opportunities — professionally, financially, or both.

They’re not wrong, they’re not alone, and the data agree.

According to PayScale’s report, 18.5 percent of women surveyed believe they have missed out on a raise, promotion, or both because of their gender. This climbs as high as 35.9 percent in women with an MBA. Only 3.5 percent of all men and 5.3 percent of male MBAs felt they had similarly been passed over. Thankfully, both men and women appear to be recognizing this as an issue more than they ever have before.

PayScale asked respondents whether gender pay disparity is an issue at their current companies, whether their companies were acting to address the disparity, and whether respondents have any plans to seek new employment within the next six months. Both male and female respondents sent a clear message in their answers: the lower the “employer action rating” with regards to addressing inequity, the more likely that the employee is planning to seek a new job in the next six months. In fact, 73.5 percent of male respondents and 70.6 percent of female respondents who say their employers are taking “no action” plan on actively seeking outside opportunities in the near future.

The opportunity gap matters.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced total pay parity within their company, with their head of HR stating, “I’m proud to share that at Facebook, men and women earn the same.” However, only about 32 percent of Facebook’s 12,000-plus global employees are female. This illustrates well why true pay equity in the workplace cannot be reached without opportunity equity. PayScale’s study shows that mid-career men are 25 percent more likely than mid-career women to be in management roles, and over 41 percent more likely in their late career.

Amazon (widely regarded as one of the most sought-after employers in the world) released their gender disparity data, revealing that only 24 percent of Amazon managers, only one out of seven corporate officers, and only three of 11 board members are female.

Tech companies can’t claim true gender equity when women are still underrepresented in leadership roles. They can’t even necessarily say that women have as much opportunity to earn those roles as men, because many companies reward behaviors that are coded as masculine.

“I wonder what could be achieved for women in workplace culture if we stopped asking women to wear their confidence ‘like a man,’” wrote Lydia Frank, PayScale’s VP of Content Strategy, at LinkedIn last year. “The truth is that we, as a society, are being lazy. It’s harder to recognize quiet confidence, so the easy thing to do is to ask everyone to show their confidence in ways that are overt, assuming those that don’t must lack it. It’s also true that we don’t actually want women to act like men in the workplace. When they do, both men and women punish them for it. We can’t have it both ways.”

Education can boost pay, but doesn’t close the gender pay gap.

The report also uncovered an interesting correlation between women’s level of education and their satisfaction with their employer. In general: the higher her level of education, the greater chance that she gives her employer a low rating on addressing workplace gender inequality; 37 percent of females with MBAs and 36.1 percent of females with PhDs being the most likely to give those low “employer action rating.”

Want to be part of the solution?

By negotiating your salary right now, you can make it easier for other women after you to negotiate their salaries as well. The worst thing you can is to sit back and wait patiently for your company to give you a raise. When it comes to women and their salaries, there is no good karma and there are no easy wins — especially when it comes to the gender pay gap.

]]>http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/the-good-news-and-the-bad-news-about-the-gender-pay-gap/feed1New Tech for the Workplace of the Futurehttp://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/new-tech-workplace-future
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/12/new-tech-workplace-future#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 14:59:50 +0000http://www.payscale.com/career-news/?p=34157We might still be a few years away from using virtual reality to get to work from our comfy, comfy beds (dang) but technology is still changing how we work in ways we might not even realize. See how tech might take some of the work off your plate in the future.

Siri, Can You Help Me?

Imagine instead of asking Siri about the weather forecast or some obscure fact you’re too tired to type into Wikipedia yourself, you asked her to bring up some cost projections for work? Or maybe asked her to analyze how the stock market might swerve after a theoretical political event. Virtual Assistants like Siri, Alexa, OK Google, and the like are going to likely take work out of our inbox and into the internet (possibly via those cordless earphones Apple is peddling). As supercomputers get smarter (hello, Watson) the tasks they’ll be able to complete will also become more and more complex. Let’s just hope they abide by some basic laws of robotics.

Bye Bye, Team Training. Hello, Microlearning

It doesn’t take a millennial to teach you that you have no attention span anymore. I’m impressed if you’ve read this whole paragraph so far. The ramping-up trend of “microlearning” puts information sharing and education opportunities into the tiniest digestible chunks. Think of it as Vine for learning new skills. Perfect for those repeated focus shifts throughout the day, on the commute, at lunch, or even (ungh) on the toilet (see Google’s Learning on the Loo for that gem). If your company wants all employees to learn, say, new software, they might use microlearning to stretch out the training from a 2-hour cram session to 60 1-minute long videos that pop up on your desktop or mobile phone over a week. (Note: yes, this means the total training time will be shorter, but microlearning is designed to hit highpoints, not be comprehensive.)

How does this help? Well, you probably don’t remember anything after the first few minutes of that two-hour training, now do you? Using microlearning techniques with small videos, easily scanned copy, or even mini quizzes or tests, you ingrain information into a receptive brain and then get out while the getting’s good. Some recent studies put retention through microlearning at 22 percent higher than traditional methods (and you don’t get those big chunks of lost productivity in the workday, either).

Using Social for the Powers of Good

Besides distributing microlearning via social (think Instagram since Vine is RIP), there are other ways that major social networks are getting in on the collaboration game. Gone are the days of wasting time on Facebook during the 9 to 5. Now you’re working (while also probably wasting time) with their new Workplace tool. Google is also getting in on the collab game with tools to help app developers like Gallery, Remixer, and Stage. And of course Slack, which just launched a new Enterprise version geared at making connecting teams.

And isn’t that ultimately what we want, but have trouble achieving? Connecting employees who, even while standing at their desks in tidy rows, are still just staring at their phones in their hands, disconnected.

Tell Us What You Think

What’s the biggest problem you’d like to solve at work, and what technology would you invent to do it? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

]]>We might still be a few years away from using virtual reality to get to work from our comfy, comfy beds (dang) but technology is still changing how we work in ways we might not even realize. See how tech might take some of the work off your plate in the future.

Siri, Can You Help Me?

Imagine instead of asking Siri about the weather forecast or some obscure fact you’re too tired to type into Wikipedia yourself, you asked her to bring up some cost projections for work? Or maybe asked her to analyze how the stock market might swerve after a theoretical political event. Virtual Assistants like Siri, Alexa, OK Google, and the like are going to likely take work out of our inbox and into the internet (possibly via those cordless earphones Apple is peddling). As supercomputers get smarter (hello, Watson) the tasks they’ll be able to complete will also become more and more complex. Let’s just hope they abide by some basic laws of robotics.

Bye Bye, Team Training. Hello, Microlearning

It doesn’t take a millennial to teach you that you have no attention span anymore. I’m impressed if you’ve read this whole paragraph so far. The ramping-up trend of “microlearning” puts information sharing and education opportunities into the tiniest digestible chunks. Think of it as Vine for learning new skills. Perfect for those repeated focus shifts throughout the day, on the commute, at lunch, or even (ungh) on the toilet (see Google’s Learning on the Loo for that gem). If your company wants all employees to learn, say, new software, they might use microlearning to stretch out the training from a 2-hour cram session to 60 1-minute long videos that pop up on your desktop or mobile phone over a week. (Note: yes, this means the total training time will be shorter, but microlearning is designed to hit highpoints, not be comprehensive.)

How does this help? Well, you probably don’t remember anything after the first few minutes of that two-hour training, now do you? Using microlearning techniques with small videos, easily scanned copy, or even mini quizzes or tests, you ingrain information into a receptive brain and then get out while the getting’s good. Some recent studies put retention through microlearning at 22 percent higher than traditional methods (and you don’t get those big chunks of lost productivity in the workday, either).

Using Social for the Powers of Good

Besides distributing microlearning via social (think Instagram since Vine is RIP), there are other ways that major social networks are getting in on the collaboration game. Gone are the days of wasting time on Facebook during the 9 to 5. Now you’re working (while also probably wasting time) with their new Workplace tool. Google is also getting in on the collab game with tools to help app developers like Gallery, Remixer, and Stage. And of course Slack, which just launched a new Enterprise version geared at making connecting teams.

And isn’t that ultimately what we want, but have trouble achieving? Connecting employees who, even while standing at their desks in tidy rows, are still just staring at their phones in their hands, disconnected.

Tell Us What You Think

What’s the biggest problem you’d like to solve at work, and what technology would you invent to do it? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

One of the more heartening findings in PayScale’s recent report, Inside the Gender Pay Gap, is that both women and men say they’re more likely to leave their job when their employer doesn’t prioritize pay equity. Bottom line: when companies don’t care about closing the gender pay gap, employees leave. For this reason, it’s obviously in your boss’s — and your employer’s — best interests to pay attention.

When Employers Don’t Address Gender Issues, Workers Plan to Leave

For PayScale’s latest report, workers were asked to rate their employer’s activity in addressing gender inequity in the workplace, with 1 equaling “no action is taken” and 5 equaling “my employer is proactively addressing the issue.”

Workers who choose 1 (“no action is taken”) were most likely to say that they planned to take a new job in the next six months. In fact, men were more likely than women to say that they were looking for a new job, 73.5 percent of men vs. 70.6 percent of women.

When employers proactively addressed issues of inequity, both men and women reported themselves less likely to look for new jobs in the near future. Again, men were more likely than women to say they were looking for work, at 46.4 percent compared to 40.8 percent of women.

Addressing Gender Inequity Improves Employee Satisfaction

Both men and women were more likely to report themselves as satisfied at work when their employer proactively addressed gender inequity. Sixty-eight percent of women and 65 percent of men who said their employers were proactively addressing gender inequity strongly agreed to the statement, “I am extremely satisfied working for my employer.” Only 25 percent of men and 26 percent of women said the same when they felt their employer was taking no action at all.

The best news for employers is that making a good faith effort to address inequity appears to make a positive impression on workers, even when things aren’t perfect just yet. Men and women who said their workplace had no gender inequity issues were also likely to report themselves as being extremely satisfied (54 percent of men; 56 percent of women) — but less so than those who worked for companies that had gender inequity and tried to address it.

So, the big takeaway for your employer is that trying to improve gender inequity in terms of pay and promotions will yield big dividends in terms of your loyalty and engagement. They don’t need to be perfect; they just need to commit to making progress.

Tell Us What You Think

Does your employer address gender inequity at your company — and does their approach affect your engagement at work? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

One of the more heartening findings in PayScale’s recent report, Inside the Gender Pay Gap, is that both women and men say they’re more likely to leave their job when their employer doesn’t prioritize pay equity. Bottom line: when companies don’t care about closing the gender pay gap, employees leave. For this reason, it’s obviously in your boss’s — and your employer’s — best interests to pay attention.

When Employers Don’t Address Gender Issues, Workers Plan to Leave

For PayScale’s latest report, workers were asked to rate their employer’s activity in addressing gender inequity in the workplace, with 1 equaling “no action is taken” and 5 equaling “my employer is proactively addressing the issue.”

Workers who choose 1 (“no action is taken”) were most likely to say that they planned to take a new job in the next six months. In fact, men were more likely than women to say that they were looking for a new job, 73.5 percent of men vs. 70.6 percent of women.

When employers proactively addressed issues of inequity, both men and women reported themselves less likely to look for new jobs in the near future. Again, men were more likely than women to say they were looking for work, at 46.4 percent compared to 40.8 percent of women.

Addressing Gender Inequity Improves Employee Satisfaction

Both men and women were more likely to report themselves as satisfied at work when their employer proactively addressed gender inequity. Sixty-eight percent of women and 65 percent of men who said their employers were proactively addressing gender inequity strongly agreed to the statement, “I am extremely satisfied working for my employer.” Only 25 percent of men and 26 percent of women said the same when they felt their employer was taking no action at all.

The best news for employers is that making a good faith effort to address inequity appears to make a positive impression on workers, even when things aren’t perfect just yet. Men and women who said their workplace had no gender inequity issues were also likely to report themselves as being extremely satisfied (54 percent of men; 56 percent of women) — but less so than those who worked for companies that had gender inequity and tried to address it.

So, the big takeaway for your employer is that trying to improve gender inequity in terms of pay and promotions will yield big dividends in terms of your loyalty and engagement. They don’t need to be perfect; they just need to commit to making progress.

Tell Us What You Think

Does your employer address gender inequity at your company — and does their approach affect your engagement at work? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

For more than seven years, we at PayScale have been producing in-depth reports on the gender pay gap, the most recent of which released in early December. Based on these years of research, we have determined that the gender pay gap is more nuanced than the oft-quoted statistic of 76 cents on the dollar. The typical figure is calculated by comparing all men vs. all women, regardless of what jobs they hold, which tend to be very different. It turns out that when you compare earnings for men and women doing the same work, for the same types of organizations, with the same educational background, the gender pay gap shrinks and is closer to 98 cents on the dollar. For those stats people out there, this difference is within errors of parity.

However, there is one place where the gender pay gap persists even in an apples-to-apples comparison, and that is in management positions. We have found that not only does the gender pay gap persist, but it grows as women move up the corporate ladder. The controlled (i.e., apples-to-apples) gender pay gap increases from 1.9 percent for individual contributors to 2.8 percent for managers, 4.3 percent for directors, and 6.4 percent for executives.

Not only does the gender pay gap increase the higher one moves up the corporate ladder, but so too does the proportion of men holding these positions. In our database, which is skewed toward white-collar professionals, 55 percent of individual contributors are women, but only 35 percent of executives (vice presidents and above) are women.

And it’s not just in our data where we observe the lack of women in higher level positions. Catalyst, a non-profit organization looking to accelerate progress for women in the workplace, found that only 4.6 percent of CEOs of S&P 500 companies are women. In fact, there are more CEOs named John in the S&P 500 than there are women. As another example, LeanIn.org in partnership with McKinsey & company found men are 30 percent more likely than women to be promoted to management roles in their Women in the Workplace report, which included results from 34,000 employees and 132 companies employing 4.6 million workers.

Gender Has a Significant Impact on Negotiation Success

One of the reasons often cited for the gender pay gap is women’s inability to successfully negotiate for raises. Previous research stated that women simply didn’t negotiate as much as men, but that has largely been determined to be untrue. For example, the Women in the Workplace report found that women and men negotiated for both promotions and raises at similar rates. In fact, women asked slightly more than men in both cases. Therefore, the problem doesn’t appear to be not asking, it appears to be how this asking is received.

In this same study, women more frequently reported negative performance feedback after asking (30 percent vs. 23 percent for men). Another study out of the U.K. shared similar results: women asked just as much as men, but were 25 percent less likely to be successful in obtaining a raise. Lastly, in a study titled …Sometimes It Does Hurt to Ask, authors Bowles, Babcock, and Lai found that women were disproportionately penalized for initiating negotiations, by both men and women.

We decided we also wanted to look into this disconcerting issue. In a survey of more than 87,000 employees we found that women more frequently believe their gender has kept them from receiving a raise or promotion. On average, 18.5 percent of women (versus 3.5 percent of men) felt their gender hampered them. Similar to the gender pay gap, we see that this difference increases with higher job levels. In fact, it nearly doubles: 16 percent of female individual contributors felt this way compared to more than 31 percent of executives.

Given all the information I’ve shared with you above, I want you to have two key takeaways:

The gender pay gap is more complicated than is typically portrayed and by focusing on the 76-cents-on-the-dollar statistic, we are missing the opportunity to address the real inequity – women are missing from management roles and the ones who are there are being paid less, all else being equal.

Asking for raises is not the issue, receiving them is. Unconscious bias is frequently the culprit for the negative reactions to women negotiating and the first step to fighting something unconscious is to determine if you have these biases. Luckily there is a free test provided by Project Implicit through Harvard University. Once you recognize whether a problem exists, it becomes much easier to fight it through conscious effort.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you think your gender has affected your chance of getting a promotion or a raise? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

For more than seven years, we at PayScale have been producing in-depth reports on the gender pay gap, the most recent of which released in early December. Based on these years of research, we have determined that the gender pay gap is more nuanced than the oft-quoted statistic of 76 cents on the dollar. The typical figure is calculated by comparing all men vs. all women, regardless of what jobs they hold, which tend to be very different. It turns out that when you compare earnings for men and women doing the same work, for the same types of organizations, with the same educational background, the gender pay gap shrinks and is closer to 98 cents on the dollar. For those stats people out there, this difference is within errors of parity.

However, there is one place where the gender pay gap persists even in an apples-to-apples comparison, and that is in management positions. We have found that not only does the gender pay gap persist, but it grows as women move up the corporate ladder. The controlled (i.e., apples-to-apples) gender pay gap increases from 1.9 percent for individual contributors to 2.8 percent for managers, 4.3 percent for directors, and 6.4 percent for executives.

Not only does the gender pay gap increase the higher one moves up the corporate ladder, but so too does the proportion of men holding these positions. In our database, which is skewed toward white-collar professionals, 55 percent of individual contributors are women, but only 35 percent of executives (vice presidents and above) are women.

And it’s not just in our data where we observe the lack of women in higher level positions. Catalyst, a non-profit organization looking to accelerate progress for women in the workplace, found that only 4.6 percent of CEOs of S&P 500 companies are women. In fact, there are more CEOs named John in the S&P 500 than there are women. As another example, LeanIn.org in partnership with McKinsey & company found men are 30 percent more likely than women to be promoted to management roles in their Women in the Workplace report, which included results from 34,000 employees and 132 companies employing 4.6 million workers.

Gender Has a Significant Impact on Negotiation Success

One of the reasons often cited for the gender pay gap is women’s inability to successfully negotiate for raises. Previous research stated that women simply didn’t negotiate as much as men, but that has largely been determined to be untrue. For example, the Women in the Workplace report found that women and men negotiated for both promotions and raises at similar rates. In fact, women asked slightly more than men in both cases. Therefore, the problem doesn’t appear to be not asking, it appears to be how this asking is received.

In this same study, women more frequently reported negative performance feedback after asking (30 percent vs. 23 percent for men). Another study out of the U.K. shared similar results: women asked just as much as men, but were 25 percent less likely to be successful in obtaining a raise. Lastly, in a study titled …Sometimes It Does Hurt to Ask, authors Bowles, Babcock, and Lai found that women were disproportionately penalized for initiating negotiations, by both men and women.

We decided we also wanted to look into this disconcerting issue. In a survey of more than 87,000 employees we found that women more frequently believe their gender has kept them from receiving a raise or promotion. On average, 18.5 percent of women (versus 3.5 percent of men) felt their gender hampered them. Similar to the gender pay gap, we see that this difference increases with higher job levels. In fact, it nearly doubles: 16 percent of female individual contributors felt this way compared to more than 31 percent of executives.

Given all the information I’ve shared with you above, I want you to have two key takeaways:

The gender pay gap is more complicated than is typically portrayed and by focusing on the 76-cents-on-the-dollar statistic, we are missing the opportunity to address the real inequity – women are missing from management roles and the ones who are there are being paid less, all else being equal.

Asking for raises is not the issue, receiving them is. Unconscious bias is frequently the culprit for the negative reactions to women negotiating and the first step to fighting something unconscious is to determine if you have these biases. Luckily there is a free test provided by Project Implicit through Harvard University. Once you recognize whether a problem exists, it becomes much easier to fight it through conscious effort.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you think your gender has affected your chance of getting a promotion or a raise? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.